My visit with Joy

Carrying stuff for our picnic!

We discussed the physics of this marble ball suspended by a cushion of water!

Getting White Coated


Joy and Joy (aka Bundle of Joy)

All the fish....

Well...since Joy has posted twice about my visit with her....I suppose it is my duty as a brother to post something as well....

All sarcasm put aside, the visit was very very good. Joy was not with me the first couple of days because she had to go to a conference in Virgina. Therefore, the first couple of days were a mite boring; however, I did bring my xbox with me and my computer and a couple of DVD's. So....I got through that stage ok. In addition, a few of Joy's friends invited me to eat ice cream with them one night which was very nice! I must say that meeting Joy's school friends was a pleasant suprise. Some of them are believers or seem to have some kind of moral standing which is really great compared to most of the engineering people that I had to deal with going through school.

In Joy's blog, Joy points out that I made friends with a friend of her's husband (say that ten times fast!). That is because he is an engineer and (if you will permit me to insert a little more sarcasm here) he can actually talk on my level! As a matter of fact, several of Joy's church friends are engineers! I even met an aspiring rocket scientist! Now that is a first for me....going to a church where there is more then one rocket scientist!!!!

On Sunday, we went out to eat with many of these people where you could get a steak sandwich with just meat and bread. I have since discovered that Texans do not have sophisticated taste like we North Carolina people do! One of Joy's friends rightly pointed out that barbecue in NC is the best; however, when presented with the idea of putting coleslaw and chilly on his barbecue sandwich, he said he would not try something like that! Therefore, the tastes of Texans have not yet evolved to that of us North Carolina people!

Later, we did more shopping because Joy lost her cell phone, because I need to eat, and because Joy wanted to get more fish to add to the ones I had gotten her. At the end of our visit, we went to a butterfly museam. While waiting for Joy to take a picture of every single butterfly, I couldn't help but think that Noah would really enjoy something like that! Just an idea for you Martha.... I think the best part of the visit, was the time Joy and I spent talking about how things are with her and about our family in general! It was very nice to get to do that.

Cars Cars Cars!

Aston Martin Vanquish

Jaguar XKR (old model)

Audi TT

Jaguar xkr

Those of you who know me know I love cars! So....here is something fun I thought I would do! Here are some cars I like....you guys can tell me which one looks the best or if you have your own car you think looks good. The cars in the pictures above have simple curves yet they still look stunning, which is typically the kind of car I think looks good...simply beautiful! A complicated look would be like a Lamborgini Murcelago....the back end just looks too complex....or a Ferrari F50.

A couple of basketball stories!

Well, tonight I played basketball (thanks Martha and Mike for letting me play!) and there I met 2 much older people...someone brought up what I was doing this summer (working on my master's thesis) and soon the information came out that I am indeed a rocket scientist.

I often get a lot of praise from older people for sticking with school and doing something so difficult. I think seeing kids accomplish a lot in their education is something older people hold dear because they see the value of education in terms of getting a job that has true meaning and impact instead of working at a restaurant or working outside constantly. I suppose when your young, those kind of jobs are not too bothersome but if you do it for 30-40 years....that can be pretty tough! I think what is even tougher is just barely getting bye and not being able to enjoy money or have a difficult time saving for retirement! So I figured I would share that observation...for whatever it is worth :).

On a more humorous note, Mike, the reason why I wanted to play basketball tonight was because at Georgia's wedding, I invited some people to play basketball where I play every Thursday night! Well, a couple of weeks went bye...a couple of months go bye, and today they finally called me up and told me they wanted to play! Because they knew no one there, I felt obligated to go and help smooth things over in terms of them meeting people! :)

Now, I start playing with these guys (most of them are homeschooled I THINK) and it turns out that these guys are REALLY REALLY GOOD! They easily crushed the team I was playing with and eventually they started playing with the "brothers" (yes, a lot of black people play with us!). So, the first two games against the "brothers", my friends won. Now you have to understand that there were so many people there tonight, that after 2 wins, you needed to get off the court and let another team play. Well, the "brothers" were so determined to beat these white kids, that they told them to stay on the court! Unfortunately, my friends lost the third game...so the chaos could not continue...nevertheless...it was interesting to observe!

To fully appreciate the humor here, you have to realize that a bunch of white home schoolers BEAT a bunch of "brothers"! After all, black people are supposed to be very good at sports and white men can't jump! Apparently, memorizing bible verses and obeying our parents are not the only things us homeschoolers are good at!

Superheros quiz!

Ok...for those of you who like quizes, here is one for you to tell you what superhero and supervillan you are!

I apparently am most like superman: "You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others".

I actually think that is pretty accurate! Here is the link: http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/
There is also one for supervillians: http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/villain/

I got Mr Freeze...apparently "You are cold and you think everyone else should be also, literally"!

Let me know your results!

The Human Brain is truely amazing!

Have you guys thought about how the human brain interprets color? More specifically, how it can see patterens of colors and identify objects based on these patterens! Here is a great example of how wonderful the human brain is. Have you ever looked at a picture of someone when they were a child...and thought...I know who that is! Your brain has somehow recongnized certain patterens or certin similarities that have not changed with age based on the colors your eyes see.

So what has made me think such strange and crazy thoughts!!! Well, my thesis envolves taking taking a video of a ball, and finding and identifiying the particular sections of color placed on the ball! My code is in the final stages of development and now is so complicated that it takes a whole hour to identify the necessary patches on 10 frames of video!

Let me put some perspective on this value. Think of a frame as an image. Most movies you watch display about 25-30 images a second, or frames per second. Your brain manages to process these sequential images in one second. Furthermore, your brain can identify that an object in this 'video' is a flower, a picture, a friend, or a globe simply based on the colors your eyes see! Contrast this to the code I have written. It processes only 10 frames every hour! I can only find the colors on the ball for very specifically defined cases!

Well if you understand what I have said...or you are still reading this...you are to be praised. Turns out, this problem is a very difficult yet important problem. You guys have seen irobot with the robots walking around, sitting on a couch, or firing a weapon. A robot MUST know how to take a sequence of colors and identify shapes and objects in order to find the couch to sit on, walk to a destination, or aim a weapon. This, to me, is the most important problem in artificial intellegence, even more difficult then programing behaviors!

So what is the point? It has just been a good reminder that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! I don't know how God figured this stuff out....but he did a pretty good job!

Why do people always remember who I am?

Ok...this post is going to be a wierd one...but who cares...I am overdue for another post anyways!

I seriously want to know why people remember who I am? I am asking this here because I suspect some of you guys create a pretty memorable first impression as well...and people never forget you! Does are sheltered past really stick out like a sore thumb that much? :)

Anyways, I asked my sister this question! She said that people always remember someone who always avoids eye contact and talks with a very monotone voice! NICE!

I then told her about a recent trip to the pharmacy! Those people always remember who I am! I only visit them about once every two months or something like that and my face, one would think, would be lost in the sea of eldely people they see at least every two weeks!

So here I will redeem my sister some! She then told me that people always remember someone who is tall and handsome! All I am going to say about that is I know my siblings give me a lot more credit in the "looks" department then I deserve!

So I put forth the question: are you guys suprised at how people can always remember who you are? If you are, why do you think this is the case?

Be nice to all women!!!!

Today I was working with the inflatables where me and another guy were operating a ride called the bungie run! A good lookin young lady walked up, I explained some basics about the ride, and told her to pick a side to enter in on. She picked my side and I was about ready to go attach a harness on her when the other guy helping me almost jumped in front of me so he could hook the harness on her.

So what is the big deal? Well, guys should treat all girls equal unless they are interested in someone or want to date someone of the opposite gender! Hot girls should not get any special treatment whatsoever! Personally, I equate this with discrimmination! All we are doing is going the extra mile for someone who is attractive, and ignoring or maybe making fun of someone who we may not find attractive. Odviously, if I did this based on if someone was black or white, I would probably be in jail or something like that!

Unfortunately, this behavior is destroying our society! Girls feel like they MUST look attractive, if they don't, they feel like they will never get a boyfriend! So girls engage in all kinds of unhealthy behavior...not eating, thinking they are fat all the time, and spending too much time in front of the mirror in the morning! Most stick thin girls I know think they are fat....IT'S STUPID!

I haven't gotten to the most discouraging part of the whole situation yet, and that is respect! I am having trouble putting this in an appropriate way....this guy wanted to put this harness on her so that he could get as 'close' to her as he possibly could!

So what, he was about ready to jump in front of you...it's not a big deal...just let it go. Ladies and gentlemen, and especially you gentlemen, I see this behavior all the time. I see it in the people that I work with, people I go to school with, and even complete strangers...most men are obsessed ONLY with how a girl looks and nothing else. This is truely sad!

I suppose the best thing for me to do what to let him hook the harness on her...if he makes a move in any way, I would enjoy watching her husband beat the crap out of him!

Sorry for my rant...Peace Out!